How often do you get to design a belt for one of the leading names in alternative fashion? Not very often, that's when! We wanted to do something really different this time, so we had a word with one of our favourite clothes companies, Lowlife. Best known for their wide collection of eye-catching belts, they have offered up a blank canvas (well, belt) for a Don't Panic reader's design. This will then be put into production (subject to Lowlife's discretion) to be seen and sold throughout the land. With bands including The Subways, In Flames, Gallows and Fucked Up all sporting Lowlife wear, your designs could end up on stages around the world!

Born in London in 2001, Lowlife set out to conquer an untouched market that brought the waistline to the forefront of fashion. In conquering the belt market with their range of edgy designs, they have been embraced by an ever-expanding family of musicians,tattooists, skateboarders, BMXers, artists and designers. By absorbing these influences, flirting with pop culture and encouraging creative independence, Lowlife continues to expand and evolve. Lowlife is distributed in 19 countries and is sold in over 700 stores worldwide.

Artwork:
Designs must be done using the template provided. When submitting your designs on the web form, please convert it either to JPG or PNG format at 72 Dpi. If you are chosen as the winner, the final design must be provided as as an Illustrator AI file (CS2), or a high quality editable PDF.

Required Files:
Design Template (pdf | eps)

Resolution:
All art should be in vector format. If you use images to create your art, please compose it in Photoshop, then trace the art in Illustrator for the artwork.

Base colours:
Colour is optional. The design should work on black, white and coloured bases.

Buckles:
Lowlife have buckles in place. No need to design new buckles.

Materials:
Standard is a smooth surface in black or white. Other materials could be textured, cracked, metallic, patent, patterned, animal textures, fabrics etc.

Techniques:
Optional. Feel free to consider the use of prints, studs, stitches, perforations, debossings etc.

Prints:
For printed belts the graphic can either be a repeat or full length. Crop marks for a 3 mm bleed have been added in the design template.

Print colours:
All colour needs to be Pantone and the maximum amount of print colours is 5.

Debossing:
Debossed graphics can be used, alone or with print infills. This is quite costly, so the design could be a 25-30 cm repeat, or a single debossing running on part of the belt (no longer than 75% of the full length). Debossings should be simple shapes.

The winner will have their design included in Lowlife's Autumn/Winter 2009 range, subject to their discretion. They will also receive a selection of Lowlife gear, and a copy of Cancer Bats' latest album, Hail Destroyer.

All usual competition terms, plus the following: The production of the winning design is not guaranteed and is at the discretion of Lowlife.